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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Our Lady of Grace





A good friend sent me this poem of Jessica Powers some time ago; I have used it for prayer myself and thought this Saturday would be a good time for me to share it with all those out there who read my blog. (Please know that I welcome feedback always on the content of my blog.)

The Pool of God

There was nothing in the Virgin's soul that belonged to the Virgin-
no word, no thought, no image, no intent.
She was a pure, transparent pool reflecting God, only God.
She held His burnished day; she held His night of planet-glow or shade inscrutable.
God was her sky and she who mirrored Him became His firmament.

When I so much as turn my thoughts toward her my spirit is enisled in her repose.
And when I gaze into her selfless depths an anguish in me grows to hold such blueness and to hold such fire.
I pray to hollow out my earth and be filled with these waters of transparency.
I think that one could die of this desire, seeing oneself dry earth or stubborn sod.
Oh, to become a pure pool like the Virgin,
water that lost the semblances of water and was a sky like God.


I love the line "She was a transparent pool reflecting God, only God."
May God fill us with the "waters of transparency"!

I had to look up "enisled" - I guess the grace to "hollow out my earth and be filled with these waters of transparency" is what is staying with me so may we all become "a pure pool like the Virgin, water that lost the semblances of water and was a sky like God".

4 comments:

Smiley :) said...

I love the pictures and the poem. They were both beautiful. I love poetry very much, and anytime I come across one I think is outstanding or one which touches me deeply, I make a copy of it and I put it in a paperclip in the front of my journal. Your transparency poem is in there.
I really like this poem. I've never thought of Mary as a reflection of God. It is a new way of thinking about her, for me. Thank you for sharing this great piece of writing!

Anonymous said...

beautiful! St Paul teaches us that we have a spiritual treasure within and it can sometimes feel like 'dry earth' but our faith tells us it is far from that because Christ won the victory and leads us in His 'victory procession' so our inner land (spiritual treasure) is in fact a place where Our Blessed Mother is our Queen and the Mother who enables the inner land to become fertile asks the Holy Spirit to fill it with Living Water. Tina

Helen said...

Smiley, Thank you for your positive comments. I have been going back to the poetry of Jessica Powers and finding lines that lead me to pray...
Love and prayer, Helen

Helen said...

Anonymous Tina, thank you for your comment We will be celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Saturday, the day after the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Mary always leads us to Jesus and I like your image of the Holy Spirit filling our inner land with Living Water. The Living Water comes from the Heart of Christ!